


Onto the Next Life

by Yokan



Series: The Other Side - Drabble Collection [1]
Category: The Vampire Diaries & Related Fandoms, The Vampire Diaries (TV)
Genre: Canon Compliant, F/M, Fake Funeral, Some Fluff, some emotions
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-01-21
Updated: 2021-01-21
Packaged: 2021-03-12 12:33:24
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 772
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28885419
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Yokan/pseuds/Yokan
Summary: "You know... One doesn't usually attend their own funeral, love," he says conversationally."One doesn't usually come back to life after death with a brand new appetite for blood either, yet here we are."
Relationships: Caroline Forbes/Klaus Mikaelson
Series: The Other Side - Drabble Collection [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2119494
Comments: 13
Kudos: 88





	Onto the Next Life

**Author's Note:**

> This was written for **klarolineagainnaturally** , based on this [gorgeous, gorgeous, gorgeous gifset](https://klarolineagainnaturally.tumblr.com/post/622376826477658112/kcbingo2020-klaroline-events-funeral-onto) made for **KC Bingo 2020**. Check it out, it's to die for!
> 
> This is for **Ennie** and **Destellolunar**! 💖

* * *

Caroline cuts a dark and dreary figure standing by her lonesome self, in black from head to toe. Such a far cry from her loud and exuberant personality. **  
**

Klaus' steps echo loudly across the empty church as he walks to her. Caroline's expression remains a beautiful mask of impassiveness, her eyes fixed on the closed casket. It doesn't suit her, he thinks, this aloofness. Caroline is warmth and sunshine, not cold detachment. 

"You know... One doesn't usually attend their own funeral, love," he says conversationally.

"One doesn't usually come back to life after death with a brand new appetite for blood either, yet here we are," she snipes back. Then she stops, lets out a long breath, familiar heat flashing through the ice blue of her eyes. "I just... Wanted to say goodbye," she confesses in a small voice. 

Klaus peers at her pensively. "You're afraid of the allure of darkness," he says. A line appears between Caroline's eyebrows as she casts him a strange look. "You can feel it, can't you? You're different now, and no matter how hard you try to ignore it, it won't go away. This feeling that you have, right here, at the pit of your stomach. Something inside of you, desperate to come out." She shifts slightly on her feet, averting his gaze as though suddenly uncomfortable under his close scrutiny. "It's ok to be afraid, love. It's smart. But you shouldn't shy away from it. Hiding is how you lose, Caroline. You have to own it. Control it. Show your monster who's in charge."

A dozen different things flit across her face then, her expression pinched with doubt. "What if I can't? What if it takes over?"

Klaus grins. "Give yourself some credit, sweetheart. You're stronger than you think. If anyone can break their monster and bend it to their will, it's you."

Caroline turns away from the intensity in Klaus' gaze, a chill settling at the bottom of her spine. It's not something entirely unpleasant, she realizes, but terrifying nonetheless. The earnestness and kindness of Klaus' words strike a cord with her, reverberates through her chest like a comfort. His dark eyes betray no condescension, no malice. Caroline can almost believe he cares.

She feels a surge of emotions rising to the surface, all the things she'd been trying to keep lidded inside of her, to bury in the ground with that casket. The fragile calm she'd been holding on to for dear life explodes into nerves. "I spent the last few months feeling sorry for myself. Grieving," she says, her voice squeezing out through tight muscles. "Ashamed of what I've become. Not knowing what to do with my life. All my hopes and dreams, the things I had always wanted for my future... Finished." She turns back to him, finds him watching her with too-sharp eyes, but not without sympathy. "I don't want to feel like that anymore. I don't want to spend the rest of eternity hung up on ifs and could haves," she speaks only above a rasp, more a confession than anything else.

Klaus' full lips draw into a slow Cheshire smile as he walks over to the casket. "Here lies Caroline Forbes," his voice booming loudly across the church. "Cheerleader. Miss Mystic Falls."

"Third grade hopscotch champion," she adds as she joins him. He turns to her with arched eyebrows; she merely shrugs. "I was proud of it."

He smiles again, and continues. "Friend. Daughter. Overachiever. May she rest in peace." He turns to her, then, standing so close now she can see the little shards of gold in his blue irises. He has a rare unguarded expression on his face - and it's so weird, she thinks, that anything between the two of them should be unguarded. "Long live Caroline Forbes," he says, looking straight into her eyes. "Beautiful. Full of life. And light. The world in all its wonders is laid bare at her feet. All she has to do... Is take it." 

He puts a hand out to her in an unspoken offer. Her heart stutters over a beat, and Caroline feels the thunderclouds above her head clearing all of a sudden, disappearing in the corner of Klaus' smile.

She must've gone crazy, Caroline thinks, but crazy has taken on a whole new meaning since she was brought back to life with pair of fangs and a hunger that never goes away. She’s here to bury her old self, after all, so maybe it’s time to embrace this new life in all its craziness. Maybe that is how she finds her center again.

She takes his hand.

**Author's Note:**

> Thanks so much for reading! 😊 This is a short little one, very different for me. If you enjoyed it, I would love to hear your thoughts! 💖


End file.
